Day Seven: Quinoa Mac and Cheese

Mmm. Is there anything more comforting than really GOOD mac 'n cheese? No.  The answer is no. 

I researched dozens and dozens of recipes before I tackled this dish. I knew it would be tasty (let's face it, ANYTHING tastes great topped with melted cheese!) but I had an obstacle: my 9 year old daughter. It would be a tough enough sell  without adding the spices and veggies that I would like to use in this dish, so I decided to keep it simple, stupid.  I will give you my thoughts on alternate add-ins later on. Word. 

Ingredients

* 3 cups quinoa ( I used red and white) 

* 5 cups water or stock

* lots and lots of grated cheese (I used chedder, fresh parm, white cheddar and some feta) 

* 1 chopped tomato (or veggies of ypur choice) 

* 2 cups milk (any type but no fat free) 

* 2 tbsp butter or marg

* 2 tbsp ap flour

* 1/2 crumb bread crumbs (panko would be best but I used Italian)

* 1 tbsp melted butter or marg

* dried parsley and chives, salt and pep

Instructions

So I rinsed up three cups of quinoa and cooked it in some chicken stock until tender, about 15 minutes. 

Preheat your oven to 350 F and start the sauce. 

 Add butter to pot over medium heat and once bubbly, sprinkle in flour, stirring with a wooden spoon. It will get kinda goopy. All good. Slowy start adding in your milk, stirring contantly, until all milk is added then bring to an almost boil. 

Remove from heat and add grated cheese. Stir til melty and thick. Add your seasonings now! 

Now you can dump your cooked quinoa into the sauce and stir. This is where I added my chopped tomato. 

Pour into a greased baking dish and top with additional grated cheese (obviously) then mix your breadcrumbs with your melted butter and scatter over top. 

I baked it uncovered for 40 minutes but my oven runs a little on the cool side so check after 30 minutes!  I decided to throw it under the broiler for a couple of minutes but I really didn't need to... 

Slightly darker than I wanted but still tasted great!! This is what it looked like scooped into: 

I had it with a crisp green salad with feta and my home made Italian dressing. 

Of course, I sprinkled extra grated parm on my serving. My daughter had a dollop of sour cream, 'cuz that's how she rolls. And... she loved every bite! Triumph! 

It would be fun to add pesto or bruschetta to this dish, I think. Also just some hot sauce would be amazing!!

This concludes my 7 Day Quinoa Experiment. I hope that you have tried and enjoyed some of my recipes and I'd love to read any comments you care to leave. 

In all likelihood I will start a new blog in a few days... what the hell! 

Until then....😜